German 36th Infantry Division

The 36th Infantry Division was a German infantry division that was active from October 1936 to May 1945, before and during World War II. The division was formed with men from Kaiserslautern, and consisted largely of Bavarian Palatinates. The division took part in the Battle of France in 1940 before serving in the XXXXI Panzer Corps of Army Group North during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The division suffered heavy losses near Klin, and it later took heavy losses at Rzhev and Baranovo in 1942. In July 1943, the division fought at Oryol during the Battle of Kursk, and the division was at the size of only two regiments when Operation Bagration began in the summer of 1944. Its commander Alexander Conrady was captured, and the division was largely destroyed. The division was replenished and reformed as a volksgrenadier division, containing the remnants of the German 268th Infantry Division. The 36th fought in France, Luxembourg, and the Saarland, and it took part in Operation Nordwind in January 1945. The division was reduced to the size of a single regiment, and it surrendered to the US Army in central Germany at the end of the war.